30 Minutes
by T.K. Yuy
Summary: She has 30 minutes to make a decission that will ultimately change her life. One more important than doing the things she's done, and taking the things she's taken. She's got to tell him... HGSS Rating just to be safe my first nonslash in... ages,


The song '30 Minutes' is by T.a.T.u.  
  
30 Minutes by T.K. Yuy Hermiong Granger sat in the library for what would ultimately be the last time. In about thirty minutes, she would be leaving the protective walls of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for good. Most of her classmates were still severly hung over. And maybe I'll be one more number on the Gryffindors tally by the time we get to Kings Cross. she thought, hearing the library door open. Who'd they send after me this time? She looked up, expecting a friend, and met the guarded eyes of her Potions professor. Former Potions professor. "The train will be leaving in one hour, Ms. Granger, I would suggest getting ready to head to the station."  
  
"I know. I was. just saying good-bye." He inclined his head and retrieved the book he was looking for before leaving her to her thoughts. //Out of sight  
  
Out of mind//  
  
She felt the familiar depression try to creep in as the door clicked shut behind him. Hermione was not at all a stranger to the forbidden and had been dealing with her attraction to the Death Eater- turned- Order- Spy for nearly three years. And the thoughts of being so close and yet so far from him for the last year only made it so much worse. Stop it, Hermione! she scolded herself as tears stung her eyes. Come tomorrow, he won't ever give you the time of day. You're not his student any more. //Out of time  
  
To decide//  
  
But her heart hurt, and even that brief encounter only seconds before had eased it significantly. She swore that she wouldn't indulge herself in her girlish fantasies, and would keep a level head. This was a hard vow to keep with her emotions so tightly strung, given that this place -her home in the Wizarding World- would no longer be open to her as it had been in the past. //do we run? Should I hide? For the rest  
  
Of my life//  
  
She heard Ron and Harry's familiar laughter coming, and tried to pull herself together inside. She never told them, and had no intention of doing it now. They wouldn't have understood. Ron would lose his temper, and Harry would rant about how dangerous and foolish it was. And Heavens forbid she tell them about her affections towards Snape. They'd disown her in a heart beat, if they didn't curse her first. No, she couldn't risk them being angry with her when she was so close to never having - or being able- to see Severus Snape again. //Can we fly? Do I stay?// She snuck out one of the library's hidden passages, and saw a familiar black robe round the corner near where she exited. Her throat closed, chest constricted, and she couldn't hold back the tears any more. //We could lose We could fail In the moment It takes To make plans or mistakes// She bolted, one hand hitching up her long black skirt and robes, the other over her mouth in attempt to hold back her sobs. She passed him as he stopped in at the Charms room, Flitwick coming to meet him. She burst up one of the many passages between the floors, and prayed that he didn't follow. No such luck today. Just as she collapsed in one of the dark alcoves, he rounded the short corner, robes billowing out around him as he stopped. "Please, don't." she managed to get out, "Just leave me." "Ms. Granger, you are Hogwarts Valadictorian, and while I can understand and sympathyze with the physical, mental and emotional stress that possition puts you under, I dare say that your Head of House would be less than pleased if I were to allow you to break down in a dusty corner before you have a chance to enjoy your new freedom from the confines of the 'underaged witch' status." She looked up at him, and stared. //30 minutes, a blink of an eye 30 minutes to alter our lives 30 minutes of bliss, thirty lies 30 minutes to finally decide// "Professor." She launched herself at him, effectively burrying herself in the warmth that was somehow not at all out of character. He made no move at first, but his arms tenetivly came to wrap around her, and he stroked her hair in what he hoped wasn't too personal - too intimate- a guesture. "Thirty mintues, Ms. Granger." He pulled back and swiftly strode down the corridor, 'scolding' a Hufflepuff/Ravenclaw couple for snogging in what they thought a deserted stairwell. She shuddered and scolded herself for thinking that he would -could- feel for her what she felt for him. Before she knew it, she was in the gardens, staring up at the full clouds that passed in the blue-grey sky. //Carousels In the sky That we shape With our eyes// With a sigh she sat down on one of the benches. She let out a bitter laugh as she saw what looked like a cauldron shaped cloud pass. //Under shade Silhouettes Casting shame Crying rain// The sun disappeared behind that cauldron, and she felt the light drizzle that the darker clouds brought. She silently thanked whatever Gods that were watching, as the increasing rain hid her tears. //Can we fly?  
  
Do I stay?//  
  
She stood, watching a few birds take off, but one moved under heavier foliage, puffind up its feather decisivly. //We could lose We could fail Either way Options change Chances fail Trains derail// Her chance to avoid getting soacked passed as she stood there, looking up at what was his office window. He was watching her, and whatever train of thought had been running around her head, came to a deafening halt. //30 mintues, a blink of an eye 30 minutes to alter our lives 30 minutes to make up my mind 30 minutes to finally decide// She ran full tilt into Hogwarts, water flying everywhere. She ignored the shouts from the students -and professor- that she soaked in passing, and rounded the corner up to the teachers wing. She flung open the heavy door to his office, and drew her wand that she never knew she possessed. The massive oak door was shut and locked just as she threw her arms around his neck and pressed her lips to his. His grund of surprise only encouraged her to dry and deepen the kiss, and that brought him back to reality. A reality where a girl -his student- was throwing herself at him. For the second time in less than thirty mintues. He pushed her away, with a bit more force than originally intended, but he needed to make it very clear that he wasn't intrested. The one woman he let himself love died at his old master's hand, and he wasn't about to drown her memory with a barely eighteen year old girl. //30 mintues, to whisper your name 30 minutes to shoulder the blame 30 minutes of bliss, thirty lies 30 minutes to finally decide// "Ms. Granger." his voice was no more than a whisper, but none the less venomous. The look in her eyes made him want to scream. She knew what he was going to tell her, and it was already killing her. How could a girl as infinately intellegent as Hermione Granger fall - or think she's fallen- for someone like me? Despite noble -for Merlin's sake, he was twenty-two years older than she was!- intentions, he knew he would blame himself for this later. "While the past half hour you have managed more contact of an intimate nature with my person than any woman -or man for that matter0 has ever dared in more than seventeen years, and if you were not a graduate, I would be assigning a months worth of detention for your blatantly sexual advances on a teacher." Her eyes quickly darted away as she curled into her self in her spot on the floor. "And if you were still a student, rest assured that fifty points would be taken for the unnecessary amounts of water strewn down the halls, another fifty for your actions here. Ten points for unauthorized entry and barring of a teachers office." //To decide To decide, to decide, to decide// "However, I would award five points for your ability to cast what you did, given your emotional state." "Professor, please, I-" "You -of all people- I expected to know the difference between fantasies and actual emotion." She stood, and muttered the spell to unlock the door before looking back at him. She let a tear fall and moved a hand to the left sleeve of her robe. She raised it, turning her arm so he could see her wrist. //To decide To decide, to decide, to decide// "I do know the difference, and have acted on it for a little over a year." His sable eyes widened at the sight of the Dark Mark on her skin, and realization came crashing down like a tsunami. "Someone had to do it, while you recovered from Lucius' turning on you. And how could Voldemort pass up on such an opportunity? To have someone as close to Harry as I am? It was perfect, for everyone involved."  
  
"You."  
  
"I did it to cover your absense, and to deter him from discovering your status as a double agent." "You were there when Malfoy was killed, weren't you?" "Everything he did to you, ten thousand times worse, by the hands of the very mudblood he hated, and the son he groomed to take his place." "Who cast them?"  
  
"It doesn't matter."  
  
"Who cast them, Ms. Granger?!" She sighed. "I did, and I would do it again. In a heart beat." //To decide.// The door clicked softly behind her, and it echoed in his ears. She used all three of the Unforgivables, for what had been done to me.sweet Gods.. she meant it. What was burned into Malfoy. she meant for me to know it was her. He bolted out of his office, and shouted her name, ignoring the looks he got. When her eyes met his he couldn't deny the emotions that flew through him. He's always admired the Gryffindor witch, and had at times felt a physical attraction towards her. He'd dreamed of her often enough, and being at least twice her age, passed it off as a loveless old fool's fantasy. How wrong he was. He crushed his body to hers, using the wall to keep himself from dragging her to the floor, and captured her lips feverently. She didn't protest. And as the clock struck ten, the thirty minutes that she was left as his student ended, and despite wanting to, Professor McGonagall said nothing as he carried her back to his office 


End file.
